Flying insect trap
A flying inspect trap has a source of UV light to attract insects and an adhesive sheet to trap them. A concave housing which encloses the light source and the trapping medium has a series of narrow light-transmissive slits in a front wall to permit a direct partial viewing of the source from the front of the unit to enhance insect attraction. A cover mounted above the housing has a reflecting surface in the form of a band shell which reflects light from the source out into the room as well as downwardly in front of the unit, and prevents light from shining directly or indirectly on the wall above the housing.
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Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/467,074 for “FLYING INSECT TRAP”, filed Apr. 30, 2003.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to traps for flying insects of the type using an ultraviolet light source to attract insects, and an adhesive sheet or paper to trap them.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThere have been a number of designs for wall-mounted flying insect traps suitable for use, for example, in the dining area of a restaurant, as distinguished from the food preparation area of the restaurant. Units designed for the dining area are typically wall-mounted, and take the form of a wall sconce so that they appear, in general, to be a decorative wall light to a customer rather than an insect trap.
Since it is known that ultraviolet light attracts flies better than a conventional light source, ultraviolet light sources are typically used in such units, whether they are designed for use in the dining area or in the food preparation area. When such units are used in the dining area, however, if the ultraviolet light is directed onto the wall above the unit, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,690, it may have a detrimental effect on the wall. Ultraviolet light, over time, deteriorates the color and even the texture in some cases of many wall coatings or coverings. Secondly, fly trap units which rely on a pattern of light generated on the wall near the unit to attract flies may have erratic trapping results because the amount of light “visible” to a fly depends on the color and nature of the wall coating (satin, flat or enamel paint), or wall covering, such as paper, vinyl or Marlite®. Ultraviolet light may also illuminate a painted light surface differently than it would illuminate a dark or textured surface.
Further, in prior designs, the units were mounted at a considerable height above the floor in order to prevent people in the room from looking directly into the unit. It is generally believed that people looking directly at the entirety of an ultraviolet flourescent lamp do not believe that the emanating visible light is attractive, and since the units are intended to be decorative when used in eating areas, they are generally mounted in a manner such as to avoid direct viewing of the entire light source, where possible.
In prior units of this type which are mounted at a considerable height above the floor, and wherein the ultraviolet light is reflected off the wall, obviously the attractant light pattern exists above the unit which is even higher on the wall than the mounting height of the unit. With such an arrangement, at least some of the light pattern, particularly the more intense portion immediately above the unit cannot always be viewed directly by insects located at a level beneath the unit, such as at heights typically associated with tables, serving trays or counters. This is usually where the flies are.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention includes a housing which is curved into a concave shape, closed on three sides and bottom with an open top and, if desired, an open back. The housing encloses the light source and the trapping medium. This prevents a direct view of the complete lamps at normal mounting heights and lower. The upper front portion of the housing includes a series of groups of narrow slits to permit a direct partial viewing of the light source from a large area of the room in which it is mounted to enhance insect attraction. The inside surface of the housing may be black (i.e. non-reflecting) or a light or white color, or it may be provided with a reflective surface such as metallized Mylar to reflect light upwardly through the top opening of the housing onto a cover mounted above the housing.
The cover is positioned to intercept all light directly from the source as well as all reflected light from within the housing which would otherwise impinge on the wall on which the unit is mounted. To accomplish this, the cover has a shape of a band shell to intercept direct and reflected light and direct all of the incident light from the source, both direct and reflected, out in front of the unit. At least a portion of the light reflected by the cover is directed downwardly in front of the unit. The cover is shaped and positioned relative to the light source so that it prevents light, both direct and reflected, from shining on the wall above the housing. Thus, the attractant light display of the instant unit is located on the cover, and the unit is said to be independent of the wall in this respect.
Light may be observed directly through the slits on the front wall of the housing, although the slits are narrow enough so that the entire image of the source may not be viewed directly. Reflected light emanating from the concave surface of the cover above the light sources may be viewed from almost any location in the room, including locations beneath the horizontal top opening of the housing.
With the present invention, no perceptible amount of light is transmitted directly or indirectly to the wall on which the unit is mounted, thereby preserving any coating or covering on the wall from damage which may otherwise result from the ultraviolet light.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment accompanied by the drawings wherein identical reference numerals will be used to identify like parts in the various views.
Referring now to the drawing, it will be helpful in obtaining an overall understanding of the invention to identify the major components. These include a housing generally designated by reference numeral 10. The housing 10, as best seen from
Referring for a moment to
Returning now to the housing 10, it may be shaped in a decorative form of a seashell by means of a plurality of segments designated 18 in
The length of the slits 20 may be reduced progressively from top to bottom to provide an overall tapered shape to each array or series of slits. The tapering of the width in each set of slits 20, as well as the shape of the housing 10 and that of the cover 12, as will be described presently, are all for decorative, rather than functional purpose. However, the slits 20 are located and sized in width (that is height in the drawing) so that a person at eye level or below the horizontal plane defined by the upper edge 19 of the housing will perceive directly a series of small segments of the front lamp 14. The same view is obviously also afforded to any flies traveling at such an elevation so that the flies will perceive, not only the reflected light from the cover 12, as will be described below, but also direct light from the forward lamp itself, and as can be appreciated from
Turning now to the cover 12, it also is comprised of a series of segments 22 each of which extend from a location adjacent the wall W (though spaced therefrom by means of a horizontal flange designated 23 in
Still referring to
Thus, the viewing angle of flies for sensing both direct and reflected light extends from well below the upper edge 19 of the housing 10 to well above the horizontal plane defined by the edge 19; and this field of view between these two limits is substantially continuous—that is, a fly may perceive both direct and reflected light from the source continuously through a very large vertical angle of displacement of the fly. Obviously, however, as the fly approaches from an upper angle, the amount of direct light is greater.
Turning now particularly to
The cartridge and drive unit may be the same as that disclosed in the Reagan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,211 entitled Wall Mounted Trap for Flies and Insects. It includes an elongated roll of adhesive paper which is extended between a source reel 38 (
Having thus disclosed in detail one embodiment of the invention, persons skilled in the art will be able to modify certain of the structure which has been shown, or substitute equivalent elements for those described; and it is therefore intended that all such modifications and substitutions be covered as they are embraced within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A trap for flying insects for mounting on a wall comprising:
- a housing substantially closed on three sides and having an upper edge extending in a generally horizontal plane when said trap is mounted on a wall, said upper edge defining an open top, and a bottom;
- a source of insect attractant light in said housing located beneath said upper edge of said housing, said source including an axis extending both generally parallel to and entirely below said generally horizontal plane when said trap is mounted to said wall;
- an adhesive trapping medium within said housing below said source of insect attraction light; and
- a cover mounted to said housing and extending above said housing, said cover being solid and adjacent a wall to which said housing is mounted when said housing is mounted to the wall and having a first portion extending from a rear of said housing upwardly and forwardly of said sides of said housing and defining a forward edge extending in an upright direction and located in front of said light source when said trap is mounted on a wall, said cover having a reflective surface shaped and positioned to prevent light emanating from said source to be transmitted to said wall while reflecting light from said source outwardly and downwardly in front of said housing for viewing at a location in front of said housing both above and below said upper edge of said housing wherein said cover first portion is curved upwardly and forwardly proceeding from an upper rear central portion of said housing, said cover first portion also being curved proceeding from rear side portions of said housing forwardly and above said sides of said housing to define said forward edge, said cover having a second portion extending above said first portion and rearwardly from said forward edge toward said wall when the housing is mounted to said wall, such that said cover intercepts substantially all direct light from said source and substantially all internally reflected light from said source which is transmitted toward said wall such that no light is transmitted from said trap to said wall.
2. The trap of claim 1 wherein said housing includes an interior reflective surface for reflecting light from said source onto said reflective surface of said cover for further reflection in front of said housing above and below said upper edge thereof.
3. The trap of claim 1 wherein said housing includes at least one horizontally elongated slit permitting only a portion of said source to be viewed directly from a location in front of said trap when mounted on a wall at an eye level below said upper edge of said housing.
4. The trap of claim 3 wherein said at least one horizontally elonaated slit of said housing includes a plurality of horizontally elongated slits spaced from one another in a vertical direction when said trap is mounted on a wall.
5. The trap of claim 4 wherein said housing includes a plurality of arrays of said slits, each array comprising a plurality of vertically spaced, generally horizontally elongated slits.
6. The trap of claim 5 wherein each array of said slits comprises a plurality of horizontally elongated slits and characterized in that said slits have a progressively reduced horizontal length when proceeding from a top to a bottom of an array, and all of said arrays of said slits are laterally aligned and equally spaced beneath said upper edge.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Apr 26, 2004
Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
Patent Publication Number: 20040218380
Assignee: Paraclipse, Inc. (Columbus, NE)
Inventors: Larry R. Taylor (Grand Island, NE), C. Ronald Lambert (Columbus, NE)
Primary Examiner: Darren W. Ark
Attorney: Emrich & Dithmar LLC
Application Number: 10/831,784
International Classification: A01M 1/04 (20060101); A01M 1/14 (20060101);